"Nope, still broken, you f.u.c.ker."

"Okay, I deserved that."

"I built a new one. I reverse engineered it."

Prime walked past John into the living room, where he sat heavily in a chair. "I knew we could figure it out."

"We?"

"Yes, we," he said. "You gotta remember I was a year younger than you. I hadn't had physics yet. I couldn't have done it. But you did. I had faith."

John held his tongue.

"Now, why are you here, if not to punch my lights out?" Prime asked.

"I'm here for that too." John sat across from him on the couch. Casey disappeared into the kitchen. John smelled coffee brewing after a moment. "But I'm really here because I've run afoul of some renegades. They know I have a device, and they want it."

Prime nodded. "I know the type," he said. "The devices are rare or controlled. Some worlds, maybe all worlds, are used to dump exiles. Here too."

"Did you-"

"No, I don't think they've even noticed me. Yet."

"You're in danger, then."

"Less in danger than in a legal mess," Prime said.

"Carson."

Prime looked at him sharply. "How'd you know? What do you know?"

"Dad let it slip. Not what, just that something had happened," John said. "What's the story?"

"Carson's missing," Prime said. "They think I had something to do with it. They've charged me with murder."

"Did you?"

"What do you think?"

John studied Prime's face and saw nothing there that he didn't see in the mirror every day. Murder? "You had the chance to murder me and keep the device. You chose... the lesser evil. But you still chose evil."

"Carson deserved whatever he got," Casey said from the doorway. She handed John a cup of coffee. "Wherever he is."

"I'm sure," John said. "I knew him too, remember? Know him, I guess. He's in the universe I'm in too. I saw him once."

Prime and Casey shared a look that John couldn't decipher. This John and Casey had been together longer than he'd been with his Casey.

"Why are you here, John?" Casey asked. "What do you need?"

"I need help. I have to save my friends," he said simply.

Prime and Casey shared another look. Finally, Casey nodded.

"Anything," Prime said. "It's the least I can do."

"Wait here," Prime said. He'd parked the truck in John's parents' driveway while John parked Prime's car behind his. They were dropping the car off, ostensibly. John was nervous, but the windows of the Unic XK were tinted; he doubted his parents would look out the windows, and if they did, they couldn't see him in the driver's seat. Still he didn't want to have to explain to them what was happening.

"What are you going to tell them?" John asked again.

"Camping trip, I said."

"Right. Is that going to work?"

"I've borrowed his rifle before. Why won't he give me the handgun too?"

John nodded and Prime headed for the house. He waited, turning the dial on the radio. None of the songs were familiar, but the call signs and radio voices were what he remembered. This universe had rock and roll. He found that he missed the tw.a.n.ging songs of 7650, and he flipped the radio off in disgust.

They had hammered out a plan in Prime's living room. Casey had figured out John's idea the quickest.

"Surprise attack," she said. "They don't exist in every universe. Anything that comes from another universe or is built by someone from another universe is probably unique."

"That's what I think," John said. "I don't think their facility will be there in this universe. I checked the phone directory. There's no mention of EmVis or Grauptham House here."

"Oh, I get it," Prime said. "We have the device." He chuckled. "I don't know how I feel about using it."

"We'll do it carefully," John said.

"You sure it won't... cut my head off?"

"I understand it better than you do," John replied. "At least I know what some of the k.n.o.bs do."

"We come in the back door," Prime said. "And the back door in this case is this universe."

"Yeah."

"We'll need firepower," Prime said.

"Why? We can just sneak in," John replied. He had no interest in killing anyone, not even Charboric.

"Sure, sneak in, and what happens when the plan goes off the rails? You wanna call a time-out, while we regroup?"

"No."

"Luck favors the prepared, brother," he said. "Let's be prepared."

"Fine."

"And speaking of prepared," Prime said. "I need to call my insurance agent."

"Now?" Casey said.

"Yeah." He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Nancy? John Rayburn here. We have a policy with you on our cars." He paused. "Yeah, that's our number. Bit of an embarra.s.sment really. My car got dinged in the parking lot. I saw it happen. But the guy drove off." He paused again. "I have the license plate. ... Yeah, CDDA-92. ... Yeah, Ohio plate. ... Great. ... No, just the rear panel is dented. All cosmetic. ... Great. ... Yeah, that's it." John seemed poised to set down the phone. "Oh, one more thing. The police want the guy's name for their report. Can you run that plate through the DMV for me? Great, thanks."

"What are you doing?" John asked.

"Social engineering," Casey said.

"Kent Corriander? And the address? In Columbus? That's awesome. Thanks, Nancy."

"Why would the police need the insurance company to run a plate?" John asked. "She's going to be suspicious."

"She's going to remember that she was incredibly helpful," Prime said. "She won't remember anything else. People just want to be helpful."

Prime came out of his parents' house carrying a rifle in its padded wrap. He headed toward the barn then and came out a few minutes later, rifle slung over his shoulder, carrying a bundle in both hands.

"Pop the trunk."

He piled the gun and the bundle into the trunk. John saw him remove a pistol from his pocket, as well as two boxes of ammo. He felt misgivings about using weapons. It could only end badly for someone.

"What was in the bundle?" John asked as Prime slid into the pa.s.senger seat.

"Let's just say that you'll want to avoid any rear-end collisions," Prime said.

"Dynamite?" John cried. His father always kept a few sticks for tree stumps.

"Yep."

"I don't-"

"We're going into battle, John," Prime said, his smile gone. "Don't forget it. You asked for my help, and this is how it works."

John nodded, but he wasn't convinced. "Now what? Columbus?"

"One stop."

They drove the eighty miles to Columbus, but instead of the office park where EmVis existed in 7650, they drove to the south side of town, to a run-down apartment complex downwind from the trash-burning power plant.

"Pull in here," Prime said.

It was a first-floor apartment.

"Here's what you do," Prime said. "Give me two minutes, then knock on the door."

"That's it?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"What do I say?"

" 'h.e.l.lo,' 'How are you?' 'Remember me?' "

"Fine."

Prime slipped out of the car and around the side of the building. John counted to 120 and then trotted up to the door. He pounded on it, ignoring the doorbell.

He heard sounds within and ducked his head away from the peephole.

"What is it?" came a voice through the door.

John pounded again.

The door came open fast. "G.o.dd.a.m.n it! What-"

The man was shorter than John by a foot. He looked up into John's face, went white, then turned and ran, slamming the door.

John caught it with his foot, pushed it inward, and watched as the man scrambled over his couch to get into the kitchen and through the sliding door there. It must have led to a back patio, but the man stopped short there.

As the sliding door opened and the aluminum blinds clanked against the gla.s.s, he came face-to-face with Prime.

"Corrundrum," Prime said. "We have some questions."

"Christ, you two are so screwed! Doppelgangers? The vig are going to fall on you like bricks."

Prime motioned John in, grabbed Corrundrum, and steered him toward the couch.

"We need some information," Prime said. "You were wrong about me. I don't know what's going on."

"Then how'd he get here?" Corrundrum cried, pointing at John.

"We have a device," Prime said. "We have more than one. We built more."

Corrundrum choked on a laugh. "Build them? You're punching unauthorized holes?"

"Holes?" John said.

"You built a device?" Corrundrum said, staring at him. "Your own device?"

"Yeah. I modeled it on the broken one."

"They don't break! You two are talking c.r.a.p!"

John shrugged. "Your understanding is wrong." He turned to Prime. "This guy doesn't know anything. Let's get out of here."